UPDATED WITH THE CZECH TELEVISION REPORT
Czech Breaststroke Championships: results
Czech Winter Swimming Cup, Prague-Podolí: results
Duathlon: results
For the first time in our history, our club organised one of the two Czech Championships on each season’s Czech Winter Swimming Cup calendar. Swimmers from all over the country gathered in Podolí Swimming Stadium’s unheated outdoor pool for the Czech Breaststroke Championships. Afterwards, we could celebrate success both as organisers and competitors. Although the water was approaching 8°C, that was still roughly half the temperature at the previous championships in Slavkov eighteen months earlier. The event was held under the patronage of Prague Mayor Doc. MUDr. Bohuslav Svoboda, CSc. At the end of the article is Czech Television’s report for its sports news programme Branky, body, vteřiny.
Chief referee was Czech Swimming Federation chairman Ing. Vladimír Srb. Under his supervision, women aged up to 39 were first into the Podolí pool over 750 metres. Unlike at the freestyle championships in Brno, we had representatives this time: two of them. Although they missed the medals, fourth place for Terka Reichová and fifth for Radka Srbová were excellent results.
Men up to 39 followed over the same distance. We had swept all three medals in this category in Brno. Only one of those medallists, Artur Kubica, was starting here, and he is certainly no breaststroke fan; nevertheless, for a long time it looked as though Podolí might bring the same result. Leszek Naziemiec and Łukasz Tkacz led from the start and eventually took gold and silver in that order. Behind them, Adolf Goebel fought for bronze and still held third at 650 metres. In the last hundred, however, Jirka Neuman of KLM Praha overtook him, and Adolf touched fourth by just one tenth of a second. I. PKO therefore takes five of the six possible medals in this category in 2012/2013, won by five different swimmers.
Next were the men’s Masters A over 750 metres. Zdeněk Tlamicha has dominated this category for a second season, and Podolí was no exception. A second gold went back to the Braník clubhouse, joined by bronze thanks to Pavel Houžvička.
The men’s Masters B 750 metres followed. Unfortunately, we had no entrant, but used the brief pause to welcome our Polish reinforcements officially into the club.
Then we returned to the pool. In the combined women’s Masters C and men’s Masters D 250-metre heat, our men immediately won two medals. Brno medallists Míša Štěpán and Luboš Valenta repeated their success in Prague, simply swapping places: Luboš took silver and Míša bronze.
David Sebera represented us in the combined junior boys’ and girls’ heat. Unfortunately, despite finishing second, he did not take home a medal. The attentive officials spotted breaches of the breaststroke rules, and David was correctly disqualified.
Next came the women’s Masters A 500 metres. Barbora Fleissigová finished fifth, while Dana Tomášková unfortunately suffered the same fate as David and was disqualified.
The women’s Masters B 500 metres ended the host club’s wait for another medal. Viera Hoštáková, who that very morning had been wondering whether to enter the breaststroke race at all, ultimately started — a good decision. Her performance earned her a place on the bronze step of the podium.
The men’s Masters C 500 metres brought two more club medals: silver for Richard Haan and bronze for Vláďa Kolář.
In the women’s Masters D 100 metres, the oldest competitor, Boženka Černá, added not only our third gold but also the host club’s tenth medal of these championships.
Three golds, three silvers and four bronzes put us second in the club medal table. As in Brno, Fides Brno topped the standings. Their twelve medals, including seven golds, confirmed the familiar fact that breaststroke championships suit them very well.
The event also formed the second round of the duathlon. Swimmers who raced breaststroke in Podolí and had also competed in Slavkov in October had their times added together for the final standings. Results of this additional competition can be downloaded at the start of the article.
Thanks to the combined efforts of many people, winter swimming’s debut at Prague-Podolí was organised to a very good standard, acknowledged by participants in their positive comments. If all goes well, this will not be our last visit to Podolí Swimming Stadium.
Thank you to Czech Television for providing the report.